In the highly competitive field of consumer advertising, getting the attention of the consumer can sometimes be the most challenging task. The best looking product with the finest advertising is worthless without first getting the attention of the consumer. Traditional advertising displays have come a long way in attracting the consumer. The displays have become bigger, brighter, and may even contain flashing lights, movement, or full motion video. However, these displays have only focused on grabbing the attention of one of the available senses of the consumer, i.e. sight.
More modern displays have begun to mix sound along with the display itself, thus beginning to utilize both sight and hearing. Problems have arisen however, most notably in the form of the ‘washing out’ of a sound message by ambient noise. Further, there are limitations as to how far away sound can be heard from the display. Recent innovations have created several different ‘sound focusing’ techniques which allow a desired sound to be focused in a specific area without letting the sound ‘bleed’ into the surrounding ambient noise. These recent innovations also allow sound to be heard at a relatively large distance from the display, without contributing to an increase in the level of ambient noise of the surrounding environment.
Exemplary embodiments herein utilize recent sound focusing techniques to project several different messages to different positions around a display. Embodiments may project a first message at a very close distance to the display, while a different message is projected at a further distance from the display. Further embodiments may project a first message at a first viewing angle, while a second message is projected at a second viewing angle. Any number of different messages at different positions may be utilized in order to attract the attention of consumers and provide them with information. This information could be advertising information, or could also be any form of information (i.e. flight schedules, train departure times, movie times, menu information, weather conditions, etc.).
The plurality of different messages projected to a plurality of different positions could be used for a number of purposes. First, as the consumer passes the display and hears different messages based on their position, the attention of the consumer is more likely to be drawn towards the display. Therefore, embodiments could be used to attract the attention of passing consumers for the purpose of showing them advertisements or any other type of information. Second, embodiments could be used to provide more/different information to the consumer. For example, a message which is projected at a large distance may be the ‘attention grabbing’ message such as “Have you seen the newest hybrid car from Company X? It gets 50 miles to the gallon! Come closer for more information.” If the consumer decides to approach the display, a second message may provide additional details about the car, including the price, additional features, and the nearest dealer location.
Different messages at different locations can also be utilized to provide different types of messages. For example, if standing in front of the center of the display, the consumer may hear a message such as “Check out the new menu at Antonio's Italian Restaurant. Step to the left to hear the newest menu options. Step to the right to hear directions to the nearest Antonio's Italian Restaurant.” Alternatively, the consumer could also hear “Step forward to hear reviews from national Italian cuisine aficionados.” Exemplary embodiments may also display a different image to the consumer depending on the position of the consumer relative to the display. Further exemplary embodiments provide a touch screen for interaction with the consumer once they have been attracted towards the display.
The exemplary embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the embodiments. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles so that others skilled in the art may practice the embodiments. Having shown and described exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention. Many of those variations and modifications will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the exemplary embodiments. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the embodiments only as indicated by the scope of the claims.